


Sink or Swim

by xu_ming_wow



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Accidents, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drowning, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Minor Injuries, Multi, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 17:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17872016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xu_ming_wow/pseuds/xu_ming_wow
Summary: He didn’t really know how it happened. One minute he was standing in the bridge with the rest of the members, the next he was being dragged away by the rushing current of the river.Aka I took chanhee’s inability to swim and wrote something horribly messed up ^_^





	Sink or Swim

Deep bodies of water made Chanhee nervous, and for good reason. He couldn’t swim at all, couldn’t even float on his back properly. Anytime he got into water, he always had a life vest on and was surrounded by floaties at all times, even if the water wasn’t that deep. The other members of The Boyz had tried to teach him, mainly Juyeon since he was the strongest swimmer of the group, but Chanhee would always get too panicky to move to deeper water to even try a basic doggy paddle. Him and water simply don’t work well together, and Chanhee was perfectly fine with floating in the shallow end of the pool for the rest of his life. 

But sometimes, even just being around water made him nervous. For instance, doing a photoshoot right next to a rapidly flowing river didn’t exactly make him feel excited.

Chanhee peered at the rushing water in front of him, nervously twirling his fingers as he stared. He knew the water had to be freezing, as the weather had barley started to warm up. He didn’t know how deep the water was, but he could tell it had to be deep enough for him to be cautious.

”Relax Chanhee, it’s not like we are getting in the river for the shoot.” Younghoon said as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“I know, I just don’t like being around it, is all.” He replied, not able to take his eyes away from the river. Younghoon just nodded his head, rubbing his thumb in circles on the others shoulder in an attempt to soothe his nerves. “Well, staring at it certainly won’t help any. Come on, we have to go finish our makeup.” He said as he pulled the smaller male away from his position in front of the river’s edge.

___

 

Luckily, Chanhee was able to avoid getting close to the river during his individual shoot, posing more near the trees. The photoshoot was almost over, all that was left was a couple of group shots.

”Alright guys, I want you to line up along the bridge there, 6 on each side.” The photographer said. The boys followed the instructions quickly, lining up on each side of the small foot bridge above the water.

Chanhee gulped as he looked to his side. The bridge had no railing, not even a rope to protect him from falling in. He tried to calm himself down as the photographer being taking pictures, hoping that if these last few shots were good they could finish up quickly.

The next moment happened too fast for Chanhee to process completely. He didn’t know if he was pushed or if he slipped, but somehow he ended up falling head first into the rushing current below. He heard a collected gasp and a panicked yell of his name before he hit the water.

The initial shock of the bitter coldness of the water made Chanhee gasp, causing a bunch of water to fill his mouth and make its way into his lungs. He was flailing his limbs everywhere, trying desperately to fight the strong current and to break through the surface, but he knew it was helpless.

The unforgiving river threw him around, dragging him like a rag doll into jagged rocks, beating his body up as he quickly ran out of energy to fight. His lungs were screaming for air, his throat hurt from coughing and gagging that only let more water in, and he could feel himself slowly slip further and further away from reality.

His worst fear was coming true. He didn’t want to die like this, his mind yelling at him to keep fighting for his life, but he was too tired. He didn’t know how long it had been since he had been under, probably only a minute, but to Chanhee it felt like time had stopped completely. He felt his back get slammed into a large rock, wedging himself between the current and the hard surface, and it probably would’ve hurt him more if he wasn’t so numb at this point. His vision was almost completely black, and Chanhee accepted his fate as he let his eyes droop closed. 

It was only a few seconds later when he felt a hand wrap around his wrist, yanking him forward. He finally broke the surface after what felt like an eternity. Chanhee clung to his savior as he coughed up the water in his lungs, painfully gagging as he gasped for air. 

“It’s okay, Chanhee, I’ve got you. You’re safe now, I’ve got you.” He heard the person say, but he was too exhausted to figure out who the voice belonged to as he slipped into unconsciousness.

 

___

 

The Boyz had watched in horror as Chanhee fell into the water. They looked at where he landed, but not seeing him come up. After a long pause of frozen panic, Juyeon began to kick off his shoes and reached to take off his shirt. 

“Juyeon, no. The current is too strong, it’s dangerous.” Sangyeon tried to stop him with a firm hand around his arm.

”He can’t swim, hyung. He’ll die if I don’t help him.” He said, ripping his arm out of the leader’s grasp as he dived off the bridge and into the water after Chanhee.

The cold sunk into his bones almost immediately, but he didn’t let it phase him. He forced his eyes open under the harsh current, searching for the other as he swam around the rocks and branches protruding from the river bed. He went back up for air after a few seconds, taking in a deep breath before going under again.

The Boyz could only watch in fear as the seconds ticked by, getting increasingly more scared each time Juyeon came back to the surface without Chanhee.

Juyeon began to panic as he searched frantically under the water. He knew it didn’t take very long for someone to drown, and each second that went by meant more danger for Chanhee, not to meantion that fighting the icy current was rapidly draining his energy, and his eyes stung viscously as he fought the urge to close them underneath the water.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of white hair. He swam as fast as he could over to Chanhee, who was pressed against a large rock, body completely limp. He yanked the boy towards him, wrapping his arm around his waist securely as he swam towards the surface.

Juyeon has never heard a better sound when the other started coughing once they got above water. He pulled Chanhee as far up above the surface as he could, kicking his legs vigorously and paddling with his other hand to reach the edge, saying comforting words to him as the other struggled to breath. He felt him go limp in his arms again as he pulled him closer to the waiting arms of their members.

When they got close enough, a few of the staff ran out to help Juyeon carry Chanhee to solid ground, dragging him away from the water.

Juyeon fell to his hands and knees, absolutely exhausted. His muscles hurt more than they ever had before, and he was freezing, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that Chanhee was safe.

He felt someone wrap a towel around him, attempting to warm him up.

”You know, that was really stupid.” Sangyeon told him as he dried him off.

Juyeon chuckled under his breath. “I know, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

___

Before Chanhee could even open his eyes again, his stomach twisted painfully, and he turned to his side as he wretched up copious amounts of water. He felt a soothing hand patting his back, another brushing the hair out of his face and he coughed up the last of the water in his body.

He cracked his eyes open slowly, his gaze meeting a teary eyed Changmin above him. 

“Oh my God, Chanhee, I was so scared. I thought- I-“ he stuttered out as he pulled him into a hug. Chanhee felt a few tears slip down his cheeks as he weakly wrapped his arms around the other. 

He was cold and tired, his throat and chest hurt more than it ever had before, his entire body was sore, and he was sure he had some nasty cuts and bruises. But he was alive.

When they eventually pulled away, Chanhee looked around at the people surrounding him. The look of worry and genuine fear on his members faces made him feel ashamed. He looked down at his lap as the staff members wrapped him a a ton of towels.

”Chanhee, we are going to take you to the hospital now. Do you think you can walk over to the vans?” One of their managers asked him, shaking his head in response.

”I’ll help him.” He heard Sunwoo say, putting Chanhee on his back with Younghoon and Haknyeon’s help. They made their way over to the vans, Chanhee looking over at Juyeon who was being supported by Kevin and Hyunjae on each side.

He was slowly let down off of Sunwoo’s back and helped into the van next to Juyeon. He grunted as his back hit the seat, the pain from being slammed into the rocks hitting him all at once as the shock wore off.

”Are you okay?” Juyeon asked him, worry laced in his voice as he placed a hand on his thigh. 

“Yeah, are you?” Chanhee whispered, his voice incredibly hoarse. Juyeon nodded, sighing in relief.

”I’m so glad you’re safe. I was so scared I wouldn’t get to you in time.”

Chanhee looked at him seriously. “But you did. And I’m fine now. You saved my life, and I don’t think I can ever thank you enough.” He said as the vans pulled away, headed for the hospital.

___

After being evaluated by a doctor, the two were deemed perfectly fine minus some minor bruising. They were sent home on the condition that they take a few days rest to let their bodies recuperate from the trauma they endured.

When they walked into the dorm, Chanhee was immediately surrounded by the very worried members. 

“Come on guys, don’t crowd him. Let him rest a little before you hound him.” Sangyeon said as he led Chanhee to the couch.

”It’s okay, I know you guys are just worried.”

”Worried would be an understatement, hyung. We watched you nearly die.” Hwall blurted out.

”Nearly. But I’m okay now, I promise, just a bit tired and bruised up.”

“You should see what the fans have been saying. When the company dropped the statement about it Twitter went absolutely crazy.” Eric piped up from behind, showing him  the comments from fans on his phone.

”Let him rest, guys. He’s probably exhausted.” Jacob said as he pushed Eric and the others away from Chanhee. “Are you hungry? I can make some soup for you and Juyeon to help warm you both up a little.” 

“Thanks, Jacob-hyung, that would be great.”

Chanhee turned his head over to Younghoon, who had been sitting silently next to him. As soon as their eyes met, Younghoon pulled Chanhee into his chest, struggling to keep tears from rolling down his face.

”God, I was so worried about you. Don’t ever do anything like that ever again.” He said into his shoulder.

”Don’t worry, I don’t exactly plan on doing this ever again.” Chanhee pulled back, looking into Younghoon’s face. 

“I was so scared that we lost you for good, when Juyeon kept coming up without you I felt so helpless.”

”He’s fine now, we don’t have to worry anymore.” Sangyeon reassured everyone.

Chanhee yawned loudly, suddenly very tired as he laid back. 

“I think we should leave him alone to rest some. Why don’t you take a nap, I’ll wake you up once Jacob is done cooking.” Sangyeon proposed, and Chanhee nodded his head as he laid down on the couch, closing his eyes.

He slowly drifted off to sleep, surrounded by his brothers, feeling more grateful than ever to have them in his life, and more importantly, feeling safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that got way sappier than I intended. And the ending kinda sucks, but oh well, I tried.


End file.
